“As a result of today's shelling of Kramatorsk… seven
civilians were killed and another 16, including two children,
received injuries of varying degrees of severity,” the
Donetsk Regional State Administration said.

According to the administration, the shelling was carried out by
Grad multiple rocket launchers and came from the direction of the
town of Gorlovka, southeast of Kramatorsk.

Ten Ukrainian servicemen, who were stationed at Kramatorsk, were
also injured in the bombardment, it added.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the
bombardment, which took place at 12:30 pm local time, with Kiev
forces and the militias putting the blame for the incident on
each other.

“There were no strikes by us from any kind of weapon in the
direction of Kramatorsk,” militia representatives told RIA
Novosti.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the
headquarters of Kiev’s military operation in the southeast was
targeted.

“The strike was aimed at the military headquarters, but the
second round of fire hit the residential areas of
Kramatorsk,” Poroshenko said.

Kiev also announced that its forces have started an offensive
against the rebels near the port of Mariupol.

“The counter offensive against the militias is under way. Now
our forces are returning to the line of demarcation, to their
positions, drawn by the Minsk agreements [of September 5,
2014],” Andrey Lysenko, Kiev’s military spokesman, was cited
as saying by Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

The intensification of military action by both Kiev and the
rebels comes just ahead of the Normandy Four peace talks, which
are scheduled for Wednesday. The leaders of Russia, Ukraine,
Germany and France hope their meeting in Minsk may return Kiev
and the militias to the negotiation table.

A source familiar with the agenda of the Normandy Four talks told
RIA-Novosti that rebels have assured Moscow that they’ll abide by
a ceasefire if Ukraine orders its troops to do the same.

The Minsk talks on Wednesday are “another huge chance…to take
a big first step towards de-escalation” in southeastern
Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

"But nothing has been resolved yet. The taking place of the
summit alone is no guarantee of its success. I urge and expect
Moscow and Kiev...to really seize this chance," Steinmeier
said, as quoted by Reuters.

Kiev and rebels previously signed a peace deal last September,
but the truce failed to hold, being violated by both sides on a
daily basis.

Large-scale warfare resumed in eastern Ukraine shortly after the
New Year as Kiev launched a massive assault on the militia’s
positions, provoking a counteroffensive.

The Ukraine conflict began last April, when Kiev sent regular
forces and volunteer battalions to the southeastern Donetsk and
Lugansk Regions, after rebels there refused to recognize the
country’s new, coup-imposed authorities.

The civil war has so far claimed the lives of at least 5,300
people, according to the UN estimates.